Food trucks get extension to end of the year

Brookline’s food truck program will get four new trucks and will last for at least another eight months, after the Brookline Board of Selectmen granted an extension on Tuesday, April 23.

Ignacio Laguarda/ilaguarda@wickedlocal.com

Brookline’s food truck program will get four new trucks and will last for at least another eight months, after the Brookline Board of Selectmen granted an extension on Tuesday, April 23.

The proposal from the town’s Department of Planning and Community Development was actually to extend the program until the end of 2014, but concerns from a couple of businesses along Commonwealth Avenue shortened the approved contract.

Namely, the operators of Espresso Royale and Nud Pob Thai Cuisine said their business has suffered ever since Brookline has positioned food trucks at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and St. Mary’s Street, only half a block away from their storefronts.

Larry Margulies, who runs Espresso Royale, spoke at the meeting, and said his food sales have dropped between 4 and 8 percent between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., when food trucks are parked in the neighborhood.

He said food trucks should be stationed in underserved locations in Brookline, and he said the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and St. Mary’s Street is not one of those locations.

“Since food trucks started, my business is down,” he said.

Nonetheless, the Planning Department has seen the food trucks as a very successful program, with many more voices of support than disapproval.

Andy Martineau, economic development planner for the town, said the problems reported by the two businesses might not even be caused by the food truck program.

“It’s unclear that that’s solely attributable to the presence of food trucks at the St. Mary’s location,” he said. “At that particular location, there are a number of other variables at play besides the food trucks.”

Namely, he said Boston University is in the midst of renovating several buildings along Commonwealth Avenue, including a nearby classroom building that is now vacant, and may have had an impact in the lowered sales.

“Overall, I think the program has been a success, and I think that if we continue to administer it in a manner that’s not detrimental to the brick-and-mortar establishments or the community at large, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t continue,” said Martineau.

A couple of residents who frequent the food trucks spoke in favor of the proposal, as did some food truck operators.

Bryan Peugh, who runs Baja Taco Truck, said his truck benefits the town by providing food, but also because he employs three people from Brookline and he buys propane from Brookline Ice & Coal.

He also said he believes Nud Pob Thai Cuisine is being affected more by Boston food trucks, since two Asian food trucks are parked very close to the establishment.

On the other side of the spectrum, the selectmen received a letter from Town Meeting member Robert Basile, who stated that food truck operators do not pay their fair share of real estate taxes, as well as fees and licenses that brick and mortar locations are subject to.

They do not pay property tax, however, unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, and unless the trucks are parked overnight in Brookline, they don’t pay a meals tax to the town.

Selectman Dick Benka said he was sensitive to the concerns from the local businesses on Commonwealth Avenue, and he agreed with some of Basile’s arguments.

“They’re not paying taxes. Unless they’re headquartered in Brookline, they’re not paying the food tax to the town. They’re not paying rent,” he said. “They’re essentially doing business at a much lower cost and at much less direct benefit to the town and the town’s tax base than brick-and-mortar are.”

He asked if charging higher fees for the food trucks and providing some of that money to the storefront locations might be an option.

“If they’re losing business, do you subsidize?” he asked.

Another suggestions was to close off the St. Mary’s Street location for one day a week as an experiment to see if Espresso Royale and Nud Pob see any increase in sales.

“I take the potential impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants very seriously,” said Benka.

But making drastic changes to the St. Mary’s location could potentially kill the food truck program, as was suggested by a few food operators. The spot is by far the most desirable location for the truck operators in the town of Brookline.

The other approved locations — the intersection of Beacon and Englewood streets near Cleveland Circle, the intersection of Pleasant Street and Commonwealth Avenue, and the intersection of Harvard and Auburn streets – do not get nearly as much traffic.

Robert MacLean, who operates the Compliments food truck alongside Kimberly Crocker, said the truck “barely survived” at the Pleasant Street location.

“St. Mary’s is the core of the Brookline program,” he said. “That’s where all the students are. That’s where two trucks are lined up daily.”

Daly argued that food trucks provide a number of benefits to the town, and said that one of the trucks, Clover, recently decided to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Brookline Village, which is a model that could be followed by other trucks.

The Selectmen ultimately decided to extend the food truck program to the end of the year and study how to avoid negatively affecting neighboring businesses.

The returning vendors this year are Paris Creperie, which also has a storefront on Harvard Street, Baja Taco, Compliments, Pennypacker’s and Renula’s Greek Kitchen, which is now known as Blue Zone. The new applicants are Bean Town Taqueria, Fugu Foods, Grilled Cheese Nation and Lobsta Love.

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